AI-driven layoffs 2025: Microsoft, Meta, Amazon and more slash thousands of jobs

The 2025 wave of layoffs that has been sweeping across the US has put tens of thousands of workers at a crossroads. The federal agencies, tech giants and large corporations are reducing work as a part of restructuring, cost-cutting and a rapid changing process toward artificial intelligence. This is one of the most difficult years that the US workforce has experienced in the recent past because more than 150,000 job losses have been recorded in the months of February and March alone.

Technology, media, finance, retail, and energy are among the hardest-hit sectors. A World Economic Forum survey revealed that 41% of companies worldwide expect to reduce staff over the next five years due to AI adoption. Firms such as Oracle, Salesforce, Intel, and Amazon have already slashed large portions of their workforce, while others like Google, Meta, and Microsoft continue to restructure around automation and efficiency.

In March, the fintech firm Block, run by Jack Dorsey, announced nearly 1,000 layoffs. It is the second major reduction of the workforce in the company within a little more than a year. Dorsey described the move in an in-house memo called Smaller Block.

Oracle keeps rolling out mass layoffs in various regions. The San Francisco Bay Area alone saw 254 employees lose their jobs, with filings in Seattle showing 101 others cut. Reports show that employees in India, Canada and Europe are also facing it.

Salesforce has removed 4,000 roles in the customer support department. The firm cut the number of employees to 5,000 against 9,000 since AI-based agents can now converse with approximately one million customers.

The company has reduced over 5,500 jobs in the US in 2025 as part of a larger strategy to reduce its workforce worldwide by up to 25,000 by the end of the year. The company claims that the layoffs are to construct a leaner and faster organisation.

In July, 200 full-time employees and 500 contractors were laid off by the AI startup Scale AI in a move that impacted 14 per cent of its workforce. The reductions soon followed the deal of Meta, where the company CEO made 14.3 billion.

Amazon has executed layoffs in AWS, its books and devices division and the Wondery podcast division. Andy Jassy, the chief executive officer, has cautioned employees that the introduction of AI will result in a situation where fewer individuals will perform some of the tasks that are currently underway.

Cybersecurity company Crowdstrike declared its intention to reduce approximately 500 employees, or approximately 5 per cent of its staff, to reduce expenditures. The firm anticipates a total of up to 53 million dollars to be charged with regard to the layoffs.

In February, the company laid off more than 3,000 employees as it aims to cut underperformers as part of a performance standards push by CEO Mark Zuckerberg.

Microsoft has lost over 15,000 positions in 2025 through several successive cuts. In May, the company affirmed that one wave would see 6,000 workers laid off.

Google has introduced multiple waves of layoffs and voluntary departures as a part of its reorganisation process driven by AI. The affected teams include teams in search, ads, engineering, marketing and research.